Car fleet sales rise as retail registrations fall

Posted on

Jul 14, 2016

Though retail registrations have declined again, the number of new fleet vehicles being registered has continued to grow.
There was a very minor fall in overall demand during June - of less than one per cent _ but fleet registrations followed the recent trend, with an increase of 4.5 per cent. This drove the market heavily, helping to combat a 4.5 per cent drop in the number of private registrations.
Business sales overall were down 25 per cent, but the combined number of registrations for fleet and business were up 1.9 per cent.
2016 has seen the best ever performance in terms of car registration, with 1,420,636 cars being registered in the first half of the year.
Every vehicle fuel type has seen growth, with diesel and petrol registrations increasing by 2.3 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. Alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) have also seen growth in the last few months. Indeed, take up was 21.3 per cent higher year-on-year compared to 2015. This year, AFVs have accounted for 3.2 per cent of the overall new-car market.
Mike Hawes, chief executive for the SMMT, said:
'It is far too soon to determine whether the referendum result has had an impact on the new car market. The first six months saw strong demand at record levels but the market undoubtedly cooled over the second quarter. It's important government takes every measure to restore business and economic confidence to avoid the market contracting in the coming months.î
Rupert Pontin, the director of valuations at Glass's, said:
'The June new car registration figures are not a great surprise bearing in mind the political instability during the course of the month.
'To be 0.8 per cent behind June 2015 may be seen as quite a positive for many and to be running at 3.2 per cent above the same period year to date in 2015 is indicative of where Glass's forecasted the market for 2016 to be 6 months ago.
'Unfortunately our data shows that pre-registration activity has increased by 9.5 per cent over the same period last year and this is further supported by anecdotal evidence from a number of key industry contacts concerned at the tactical activity demanded by certain manufacturers.
"However, despite the scare tactics employed by both sides of the political spectrum the industry is still in a reasonably good position as it stands today."